Planning for the 2010 show

[jaybird]

Let's go!

[shekaberry]

I really liked the venue this year, Frontier Park. My only gripe was the warm-up area being so small; but the stalls were so awesome, especially for the babies.

Can I suggest nixing the Walk-only classes? The walk-only pleasure and eq added soooo much time to the show and really slowed things down, IMO.

[mymercedes]

I'm totally up for reserving Frontier Park again if that is where we decide to have it. I know they are currently working on some improvements there, one is adding more parking. Let me know your thoughts on that. I personally think it's an awesome place for a show. I do know what you mean about the warm up area. Too bad we couldn't hold trail there and use the other half of the big arena for warm up, but the warm up arena is too small for the trail course.

[fanaberia]

Hollywood Hill Saddle Club in Woodniville completely redid their facility. It is beautiful, with a large arena that holds up well in poor weather. They have a great natural trail course (in the woods, with a bridge, very little equipment to make a good class), a round pen, and a large warmup. Lots of parking as well. It is located close to the SAFE facility, which would make it easier for those horses to come. They don't have stalls, but the parking area is quiet and very large.

The best part, is that it is fairly inexpensive last time I checked. Much cheaper than Frontier or Bridle Trails.

[mymercedes]

I think the benefit of the stalls is a real plus, judging from what I saw at the show the previous year, especially with the youngsters or if we have inclement weather. If we want to be further north, maybe Donida would be a nice choice, BUT, they were more expensive. I think the main factor was having stalls.

[fanaberia]

Nov 3, 2009 18:23:26 GMT -5 mymercedes said:

I think the benefit of the stalls is a real plus, judging from what I saw at the show the previous year, especially with the youngsters or if we have inclement weather. If we want to be further north, maybe Donida would be a nice choice, BUT, they were more expensive. I think the main factor was having stalls.

I agree, stalls are a huge plus. But I was thinking the most bang for your buck, and the HHSC is very nice for that. It's owned by King County now, just managed by HHSC. So maybe the rental fee could even be waived or reduced somehow?

Not sure about cost, but what about the Tacoma Unit? Trails End arena in Olympia (my least favorite, arenas suck). Like Donida, I think that the fairgrounds in Monroe and Puyallup are going to be very expensive.

HHSC has good luck getting local sponsors as well, since it's nestled in a horse-friendly area. Bits and Spurs rents their arena as well. I seem to recall both of them are under $200 for a day. Sometimes the riding clubs are even willing to put you on their insurance policy to save money. So if someone wants to really, really budget I'd go that route. Both of the facilities are decent, and the HHSC is really wonderful.

[mymercedes]

I investigated Tacoma Unit for the last show. They will not rent to a one day show, and their two day rates were very high. Didn't check The Trails, but the Puyallup fairgrounds were also very expensive. Frontier Park was only $150.00 and they will provide all the trail obstacles for only $50.00 more, thus eliminating the need to haul a bunch of stuff. They also have a food vendor on site that doesn't charge us anything to be there. I would certainly be open to checking on other facilities. It just seemed like Frontier Park had everything we needed at a very reasonable price, and was centrally located. Does anyone else have any input on location and facilities for next year??

[fanaberia]

Nov 3, 2009 18:39:00 GMT -5 mymercedes said:

I investigated Tacoma Unit for the last show. They will not rent to a one day show, and their two day rates were very high. Didn't check The Trails, but the Puyallup fairgrounds were also very expensive. Frontier Park was only $150.00 and they will provide all the trail obstacles for only $50.00 more, thus eliminating the need to haul a bunch of stuff. They also have a food vendor on site that doesn't charge us anything to be there. I would certainly be open to checking on other facilities. It just seemed like Frontier Park had everything we needed at a very reasonable price, and was centrally located. Does anyone else have any input on location and facilities for next year??

Wow, $150? You won't find a better place than that with the stalls for the price. And it was nicer than the Trails, so I wouldn't even bother there.

If you did w/o stalls, you may be able to get HHSC cheaper. Also, maybe someone would be willing to let you use their facility for no fee or tax break?

[cricket]

I was just a spectator at this year's show, but I really liked Frontier Park because it wasn't too far north.

Did anyone keep track of where most of the participants were from?

[mymercedes]

One other reason I liked last years location was that it brought a more even distribution of english AND western riders. Bridle Trails was beautiful, but it turned out to be a mostly english show.

[wildwoman]

We came from Gig Harbor-so Frontier was definately easier for us than too far north and it was still over an hour drive)
Really liked the facility overall.

[zebradreams07]

If you decide to do two shows next year, maybe you could have one up north and one around Tacoma. That might make it easier for people that need to arrange transportation.

[Whitewolf821]

My two cents is that no matter where we have the show, I'm still driving about 6 hours (Yes, Bonnie...I am saying that I will be at the 2010 show!)

I will absolutely say that wherever we have it, we NEED the stalls!

[mymercedes]

I don't know if we're for sure going to want to use Frontier Park again this year for our show, but I do think we should at least look at available dates. I'll email and get a list of what's available, and also ask about the changes they are making to the grounds. Hopefully they will be adding a bathroom, closer to the stalls!!

[countrygirl]

I think frontier park is a great venue to hold the show. That saying that I just live right down the street from it, but it is a wonderful spot. With all the stalls and all, and there is a spot back in the wooded area where we could set up the trail course, that way we could have the warm up arena as part of the big arena. The Tacoma unit is also a good spot, I was there on Sunday for a cattle sorting thing they where doing, but they are very expensive.

Also, the range of riders we got was great. A lot of english and a lot of western. I think we should hold it at frontier park again this year. Another thing I think, is maybe we could add in some sort of cattle events if possible. That would draw in a rather large crowd too I belive.